Lakota Drumming

Among the Lakota people the drum occupies a position of great cultural and symbolic power. Regarded as a living entity, the drum is viewed simultaneously as a spiritual guardian and a musical instrument, a living tradition and a reference to a past way of life. Sissy Goodhouse of the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota calls the drum the heartbeat of their nation and their oral history. This performance is played on a drum envisioned by Eagle Tail Woman, an ancestor who dreamed of unity among tribes.